In my many years watching and writing about daytime soap operas, I can’t remember any time — other than Luke and Laura’s wedding on General Hospital in November 1981 — when the national media paid more attention to our daytime world than it did on Friday when Anne Heche (who played twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love on Another World) passed away at age 53 from injuries sustained in a terrible auto crash.
Certainly, her death was sensational. According to police, there was evidence she had cocaine, and possibly fentanyl, in her system when she drove her car into a house in a Los Angeles suburb. The story got such widespread coverage because she was a national figure, a movie star whose private life was as dramatic as her on-screen triumphs.
Like quite a few other former daytime stars, she graduated to primetime television and movie stardom. And she did so in a very big way. Her greatest hits included major roles in Donnie Brasco (1997) with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp, Wag the Dog (1997) with Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman and Six Days, Seven Nights (1998) with Harrison Ford.
She was best known, however, for her romance with the comedian and later the talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who historically came out as gay on her sitcom Ellen in 1997 during their relationship.
What’s most interesting is that we soap aficionados often meet and enjoy future mainstream stars (for example, Julianne Moore as look-alike half-sisters/cousins Frannie and Sabrina on As the World Turns and Kevin Bacon as T.J. Werner on Guiding Light) when they make their debuts on daytime. What a pleasure it has been to have gotten to know those big stars first on soap operas.
And how wonderful it was to watch Heche’s debut on Another World, where she played the twins Marley and Vicky, beginning in 1987. She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 1991 for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series.
Twins, of course, are a daytime staple. Her split screen performances stood out, though, because Marley and Vicky really seemed like sisters. If you missed this fascinating career launch, you can still check it out on YouTube.
Off-stage, Heche had a troubled life. She claimed she was sexually abused by her father. She lost a beloved brother in an auto accident at a very young age. At different times in her life, she was unstable, and she said she used alcohol and drugs to medicate herself. All this and more is revealed in her 2001 autobiography Call Me Crazy.
At all times, she was open about her mental struggles, which takes, I think, a lot of bravery.
It has been a very sad year for deaths in daytime world. We lost so many performers too soon. These include three from Guiding Light: Lisa Brown, who played Nola Reardon; Michael Tylo, who played her romantic co-star Quint Chamberlain, and the venerable Jerry ver Dorn, who played Ross on GL, as well as Clint on One Life to Live. Passing on the same day as Heche was Robyn Griggs Wesley, who played both Maggie Cory on Another World and Stephanie Hobart on One Life to Live.
At the time of her death, Heche was still working. Her Lifetime movie, Girl in Room 13, will air soon, and she has a role in the upcoming HBO series The Idol, among several projects that are yet to debut.
On the screen, she’ll be with us for years to come. Doubtless we’ll feel a pang whenever we see her. At the same time, we’ll always be grateful for the body of fine work she left us.
Beautiful tribute to Anne Heche, Marlena…I did catch her over the weekend in a Christmas movie she did call Silver Bells…with her character having way too many moments that had me saying “too soon” too see this…riding in an ambulance, talking about death (she was a widow), etc. But she was luminous as always. May she rest In peace.
Marlena says: Thanks as always dear Esther. I didn’t know she was in that movie. What a prolific career she had!
I absolutely loved Anne in her twin role. She is so high spirited and fun. Not to mention beautiful. I loved her gown when she married Jamie Frame!!She holds a special place in my heart for all her strength. and bravery.
Marlena says: Anne certainly did give us a lot of joy. Thanks for writing!
INDEED A BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE TO ANNE HECHE, MA CHERE CONNIE. I INTERVIEWED MS. HECHE ON THE PHONE WAY BACK WHEN SHE WAS ON ‘AW’ — AND SHE COULDN’T HAVE BEEN NICER TO ME. ‘BONJOUR TRISTESSE’ AT HER TRAGIC PASSING.
Marlena says: Thank you mon Davide. Lucky you that you got to interview her! I wish I had the great fortune to have too!
RIP Anne Heche was a daughter, sister, girlfriend, wife, mother, actor, director, author, gifted, talented, empathetic, insightful, inventive, cerebral, hard-working, of the moment, hat-wearing, costumed, manic, troubled, happy, loving, full of light genius who I adore. Thank you so much for this ‘In Memorium’ to Anne. I’m one of her many F’ANNEs & have been since that first day in the bubble bath where she had to call Michael for help. Your words are lovely & apt & called for! I found out, also, last week that one of Anne’s AW scene partners, Paul Michael Valley who played as you know Ryan, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. I’m just verklempt with death, dying, tragedy, cancer, Covid. Enough! I’m choosing to revisit “Men In Trees” on YT, the twins on YT, videos, images, articles, .. I picture Anne in heaven, surrounded by angels & by people she hadn’t seen in years, and by beloved pets and maybe she’s dancing. ✨
Marlena says: Thank you for the beautiful message! As I always say–we in daytime are so fortunate to get to know our favorite performers before any else. (I remember the tub scene too!) And we mourn our dead more intensely because we “know/Knew them.) As we all agree, she left us all too soon.
Beautiful – thank you!
Marlena says: You too!
I think the truest testament to Heche’s talent in her soap days was the fact that practically *every* soap on the air had added a similarly-aged baby vixen to their canvases (or transformed a virginal ingenue into a bitch on wheels) within 2-3 years of Heche’s thrilling debut on ‘Another World.’ Marlena always taught us that on American television, nothing succeeds like success, and when something works on one show, carbon copies will pop up on all the others. Not to say someone else wouldn’t have gotten there, but it’s hard to imagine that there would have existed an Eve Donovan, a Lorna Devon, a Kendall Hart, a Sami Brady, a Carly Roberts, or even an Esme Prince (leaping ahead to current-day soap!) without the trail that Anne Heche blazed so brilliantly in her four years as Vicky Hudson. Brava to her, and may she rest in peace.
I loved Anne’s work, and am sad at her untimely death – as well as the ghoulish media coverage of her life and death.
Anyone who saw her on AW knew the magic Anne brought to the show, and everything she did, especially after Harding Lemay returned (briefly) as writer and positioned Vicky as not only a vixen with a heart of gold, but one that reminded Rachel of her own misdeeds and manipulations!
May she rest in deserved and well earned peace.
Marlena says: Thank you for posting this sweet message dear Patrick.
I think the truest testament to Heche’s talent in her soap days was the fact that practically *every* soap on the air had added a similarly-aged baby vixen to their canvases (or transformed a virginal ingenue into a bitch on wheels) within 2-3 years of Heche’s thrilling debut on ‘Another World.’ Heche was a capital-S Star from the moment she hit Bay City, and Marlena always taught us that on American television, nothing succeeds like success; when something works on one show, carbon copies will pop up on all the others. Not to say someone else wouldn’t have gotten there, but it’s hard to imagine that there would have existed an Eve Donovan, a Lorna Devon, a Kendall Hart, a Sami Brady, a Carly Roberts, or even an Esme Prince (leaping ahead to current-day soap!) without the trail that Anne Heche blazed so brilliantly in her four years as Vicky Hudson. Brava to her, and may she rest in peace.
Marlena says: I agree with you about the greatness of Anne Heche. At her debut she was sharp and charming and as many actresses have found It’s not easy to play twins, a common soap gambit in daytime soaps. (On “OLTL” Erika Slezak’s Viki had six personalities, as you well know. The were/are so many great villainesses in the history of daytime. As for me, I never got over the Alice-Steve-Rachel triangle on “Another World.
Robin Strasser, barely our of her teens–was so mesmerizing it broke your heart. And she was every bit as good on her other soaps, but especially as Dorian Lord on “OLTL.” Funny you should mention Esme Prince (Avery Pohl) in the same breath as Strasser. I’ll be talking about that character in a future review of “General Hospital.”